Is Rap Music Dead?

[Formant024]

-Rza

lol...cool talk but the Wu did venture into rnb-land quite a few times.
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Hiphop is dead because the industry made it so...
Hiphop is dead because consumers are lazy...
Hiphop is dead because the "market" is saturated...
Hiphop is dead because technology is for everyone...

God, why dont you just say; "dudes, you gotta make pop music!" - fuck what you know about hiphop.
Because thats what it all boils down to and as much as you can try to make the stuff appealing to chart material, gigi d'agostini will whoop your hiphop ass with some ibiza trolling and a 2sec fragment of "the message" which in no way would relate the production itself (being hiphop).

Bullshit wins the charts because the industry scouts will point out it will be hype, feed it to the masses and it will get recognition. This however has nothing to do with it actualy being good (or hiphop in this case).

If you really want to take the commercial approach, even from a hiphop perspective, forget about hiphop...

 

[dacalion]

Rap is NOT pop, if you call it that then STOP!

Tip the visionary...lol

 

[Fade]

Rap music as most of us know is dead because we're not in that era right now. Is Rap music doing well? Depends on how you define that but I would say no. It is doing well in the sense that it's alive and making money, but as far as Rap music keeping its original form, hell no.

There's many factors at work but I would say it's dead because of 2 things:

1. Industry
2. Society

Society sucks and so do a lot of people. It's kind of like Facebook and Twitter. Both are great concepts and started off really good but because of the way people are, they've ruined it. Now both of those sites are nothing but people either advertising their shit or talking about themselves and don't care about anyone else's posts, but you better care about theirs! LOL.

As far as the industry, it ruined Rap music as soon as money became an issue. Take the sampling aspect of the music. Rap was based upon sampling, plain and simple. Years ago nobody cared if you sampled whatever, now it's a big no-no because that means you have to pay for that sample and record labels don't want that. This is why there's tons of beatmakers out there making shitty beats with a Casio keyboard and cracked FL Studio and not sampling at all. They use stock sounds that come bundled with their purchase of a happy meal at McD's. So because of so many shitty beats, everyone thinks those shitty beats is actual music, so they buy it. The people think because there's tons of that type of shitty beats out there that it MUST be good, right? So they eat it up. Music consumers are eating shit.

Whereas in the 80's and 90's music consumers were eating gold covered unicorn rainbow chocolates and drinking 40's, and everyone was happy. Fuck today's music.

 

[Lord Lav]

There's tons of great stuff out there and tons of peeps that really want to hear it! You just gotta look beyond the mainstream which is now easier to do than ever

 

[Mike Chief]

Eh, definitely not dead. Rap right now is just....kinda not that popular. What Hip Hop truly stands for isnt really popular right now, either...Dance music is. Its unfortunate, however, Hip Hop itself definitely is not dead. Its goin through one of its small phases right now. Similar to the bling phase, southern phase, etc etc. I guess its just the dance phase now. Do I agree with it? Most certainly not. However, when it really comes down to it, people need to hear real shit at one point or another and break away from the 120 bpm club tracks. This sound that has been dominating the airwaves wont last, but Hip Hop definitely will.

 

[Sucio]

Hip-hop isn't dead, in fact it's probably the most dominant music in modern pop culture. Rock is actually the one faltering at the moment.

Hip-hop's main problem is a lot of it is placed over dance/techno beats, because the sample-licensing fees these days are so oppressive that nobody wants to clear a sample anymore, so everyone is crafting songs using the same soft-synth program in order to bypass sample fees and just "buy the beat."

This "killed" the original artform. Sampling was the backbone of hip-hop, so it had to evolve because of money-hungry cats who would extort producers and rappers who had a great song on an album but couldn't release it because they had to pay 70% of the royalty to the original sample-license owner.

Also, I urge cats on this forum to constantly re-define their thinking. Stop thinking that shit is "never going to be that good," -- do a thought experiment and pretend you're a young 15 year old cat listening to hip-hop. That 15-year old doesn't give a shit about Eric B. and Rakim or how great it felt when Dr. Dre dropped The Chronic when you were in high-school. Think about what that young 15 yr old kid would do, though. You would think of coming up with NEW shit. Remember the 90's, when everyone basically said "fuck the 80's."

What are you doing to bring something innovative to the genre? Have you mixed hip-hop with dubstep? How about hip-hop with Moroccan new-age death metal? (I'm joking on this last one-- but you catch my drift.)

Go take a look at the posts I wrote for this website 10 years ago, on "Crapmetal" and how investors/companies are looking for the next big thing.

Fuck the past, bring in the future -- but be cognizant of the past and learn from it. But always focus on changing the game.

Are you going to be a starving artist or a Picasso? Make something that is truly out of your comfort-zone -- that is the trailblazer.

Exactly.... Whether or not YOU think the kid should know about Eric B and Rakim is irrelevant. The kids are going to care about what's poppin off right now.....If you want to be in the biz, then you must have something that people want.

 

[dacalion]

The more I think about this topic, the more I feel like hip hop never died! After seeing the 2012 BET Awards Show (which is not for hip hop honors but RnB...) yet, the majority of the show was hip hop based.

Now I'm more inclined to think that instead of hip hop being dead, the "Mainstream" way of doing things is dead! Hip Hop is going through some tough times with it's content or whatever but it's clearly alive and thriving. On the other hand, every aspect of the "Mainstream way" just isn't there anymore. With Hip Hop being a major part of the Mainstream at its demise, it would appear that hip hop has died, but now I veiw it like 'a student failing a grade', it could be the students fault or it could be the teachers. In this case, I think it was the teachers' (The Mainstream) that has failed.

We see it everywhere, not just music but everyday life. IMO, people (in general) have 'evolved' away from the old school ways of helping others to fending for themselves. I think facebook and twitter are so sucessful mainly because they both are geared towards its members personal lives. They both are telling you to tell the world what you're doing. So now the trend is 'everyone wants you to know what they are doing and they don't give a shit about you'. It's all about "LOOK AT ME!" whereas other really good sites are saying "LOOK AT WHAT WE CAN DO FOR YOU" but are suffering because that takes the "it's all about YOU" out of the equation and it's more for any and everyone interested.

This is a great topic...back in the day this topic would've reached double digit pages in responses but since it's not geared towards "YOU", (lol) now it gets double digit views and few responses...see what I mean?

 

[Sucio]

Rap music is not dead.

It's evolving. Some say it's devolving, however, it evolved from how it was in the 80s.....

Take battling for instance:

It used to be who could rock a crowd more......it then became one rapper dissin another...

There are very few rap "groups" these days. There's more "all about me" going on now. There's labels with a bunch of dudes, but never calling themselves a group. I can't even think of new rap groups these days...just individual artists with shitloads of features.

I'm not mad for rap straying away from the 90s sound, although I miss it terribly.
If reggaeton changed it's sound, would it be still be as popular as it was 6-8 years ago? Probably so, but since it never really changed, it died (in the US) pretty damn quickly. I think this would've definitely happened with rap music....and rather it die altogether, I'd rather it change into something where the next generation of listeners could enjoy and keep the culture and music alive.

When I speak of all this, I'm referring to the mainstream.

 

[2GooD Productions]

Rap music is not dead.

It's evolving. Some say it's devolving, however, it evolved from how it was in the 80s.....

Take battling for instance:

It used to be who could rock a crowd more......it then became one rapper dissin another...

There are very few rap "groups" these days. There's more "all about me" going on now. There's labels with a bunch of dudes, but never calling themselves a group. I can't even think of new rap groups these days...just individual artists with shitloads of features.

I'm not mad for rap straying away from the 90s sound, although I miss it terribly.
If reggaeton changed it's sound, would it be still be as popular as it was 6-8 years ago? Probably so, but since it never really changed, it died (in the US) pretty damn quickly. I think this would've definitely happened with rap music....and rather it die altogether, I'd rather it change into something where the next generation of listeners could enjoy and keep the culture and music alive.

When I speak of all this, I'm referring to the mainstream.

I really agree with the "all about me" mentality, and I dont think its just reserved for the mainstream anymore.
That mentality is seeping throughout all society and not just music, let alone hip hop.
The number of issues that have arisen over the past few weeks with Frienz Konnection, because of artist selfishness, or not playing for the team, it really makes grown men look and act like children, its pathetic.
I think we are going to have to trim some fat.

As for keeping the culture alive, Im in two minds about that, a lot of the kids on the come up dont even know what the culture was, or even is. The people that taught us about the culture are considered irrelevant and past it, bitter old bastards clinging on to the past.
To be fair, when I was 14-15 and just started out listening to rap, I didnt give a fuck about the culture, it was only after hearing so much "music with a message" that I started to love the culture too. But that sort of appreciation comes with time, and actually getting taught it in the first place.

I say, its not so much the past we are clinging onto, its more the culture, the tool for expression for the downtrodden, a way to say no to the machine or the status quo and to get equal and fair treatment for minorities(or anyone now, for that matter). It was a tool to bring races together under the banner of having a good time.

Now it seems its just become a tool for kids to tell fairy tales, imaginary tales of their drug lord lives, community kingpins, or porno stars/pimps, with dough to burn, but yet the hoods stay hoods.

No, rap music is still alive, I heard some really good shit yesterday, it is definitly dying out though.

 

[SkullFaceBeatz]

I am 15 years old, and alot of people from my generation aren't interested in hearing the classics from hip hop; Nas, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, KRS, Tribe Called Quest, Rakim.

Hip Hop is dying. Of course there is still alot of hip hop out there (Rhymesayers Entertainment, StonesThrow Records) but the people listening to it are mostly 30+ or even 40+. Hip Hop is in no way appealing to the younger generation. Same thing happened/happening with Jazz.

The artform isn't what it was 20 years ago. Mostly due to the industry.

I think we should just stop bitching about the younger generation not listening to good music, but innovate. Do some new things to make hip hop (or good music in general) appealing to the younger generation again.


Sorry for my bad English, I am Dutch.

 

[dacalion]

No one is bitching, it's just a topic of discussion. Us (old school heads) are only sharing 'our' thoughts and feelings about the current state of hip hop. The ball was dropped when the mainstream started dying but true hip hop heads remained loyal to the game, most of which are old school cats in the age range you stated. It's one of those things that only those with time, experience and knowledge would truly understand. You can't miss what you've never had so the only other option is to study and learn it's origins or jump in blind...(and it doesn't matter what age you are to understand what the outcome will be be in the later case).

I agree that we should do some new things to make hip hop more appealing to the new generation but it's all a cycle...the trends of the 'new generation' are trends that have already been done before. That said, it would take a new gen cat that knows the roots of hip hop to take it to a new level imo...with the death of the mainstream ways, hip hop isn't reaching those that it reached before so the new trends will be harder to spead to the masses. The internet is an awesome tool but it's limited to those that use it and rely on it for information whereas the old mainstream way of advertising and promoting was a much stronger tool.

 

[SkullFaceBeatz]

Agreed, I probably should have put it differently, but I am not English.

 

[dacalion]

It's all good homie! We understand your viewpoint and it's valid.

 

[hdthaproducer]

In my opinion, I don't think rap music is dead, there are some really good music out here you just have to look for it. Even back then, not all rap was good, you have your selected few.

 

[2GooD Productions]

I am 15 years old, and alot of people from my generation aren't interested in hearing the classics from hip hop; Nas, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, KRS, Tribe Called Quest, Rakim.

Hip Hop is dying. Of course there is still alot of hip hop out there (Rhymesayers Entertainment, StonesThrow Records) but the people listening to it are mostly 30+ or even 40+. Hip Hop is in no way appealing to the younger generation. Same thing happened/happening with Jazz.

The artform isn't what it was 20 years ago. Mostly due to the industry.

I think we should just stop bitching about the younger generation not listening to good music, but innovate. Do some new things to make hip hop (or good music in general) appealing to the younger generation again.


Sorry for my bad English, I am Dutch.

You show great understanding for someone so young, Im very impressed.

In my opinion, I don't think rap music is dead, there are some really good music out here you just have to look for it. Even back then, not all rap was good, you have your selected few.

I agree that not all rap was good back then, but the majority was good.
Nowadays, the extreme minority is good, the rest all sounds the fucking same.
And even if all rap wasnt good back then, there was at least a diversity in the "sound" of hip hop, so there was always something for everyone.

 

[Sucio]

I think the proportion of "good" and "bad" rap is pretty identical between now and then. The difference now is technology. More music is readily available, just throw on youtube....torrents....etc. We didn't have that back then, and we would actually have to cop the album....maybe it comes on on MTV/BET.....maybe listen to someone who has it...... We were restricted to specific mediums in which we listened to music....now those restrictions are all but gone....

 

[dacalion]

Good rap is still here but it's referred to as 'old school style' eventhough it has evolved in our eyes, the younger generation sees it as 'old school' because the content is so different in the music and the lyrics. Traditional golden era hip hop is all but non existent in terms of being relevant today. So whatever I refer to as "good", the new generation will call "old" even if the song came out in 2012.

I can name 20 old school greats that were blowing up the hip hop scene (all from the same era) while the new school cats struggle to name 5 without adding Jay-Z, Kanye and Lil Wayne in the list. There was much, much more 'good' rap back in the day than there is now. It's not even close. Half of the ish we hear nowadays isn't even rap...Im sorry but I can't give crossovers like Drake, Chris Brown or any of their knockoffs any true rap credit, but these guys are already being called "greats" of the genre.

 

[glassJAw]

It's not dead, just underground.

Spaceghostpurrp

Joey Bada$$

Clear Soul Forces

King Mez

 

[dacalion]

Clear Soul is DOPE!

 

[Sucio]

Im sorry but I can't give crossovers like Drake, Chris Brown or any of their knockoffs any true rap credit, but these guys are already being called "greats" of the genre.

But they are the top dogs in the game now..... It's gotten way too successful where it's extremely commercialized.

Drake does have bars, just that his emo shit is what the broads are buying....and the badass version of Chris Brown is also getting all that love from the broads....The broads dig a dude that bashes a chick's face in...... Crazy....He fucking manhandled Rhianna, and now the dude is bigger than ever.....